


through the kaleidoscope

by GalaxyWanderer



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya's screwed up, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Drabble Collection, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, a salty bug, flustered Marinette Dupain-Cheng, insightful Adrien Agreste, maybe Marinette's just bad at calculus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-10-14 03:57:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17501102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyWanderer/pseuds/GalaxyWanderer
Summary: It's a collection of drabbles, short-stories and one-shots.





	1. Outside the Window

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miraculous Mumma (Andromedanewton)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andromedanewton/gifts).



 

For as long as he could remember, Adrien has been watching the world move by from behind the safety of a window pane. He just… helplessly observed.

Through his bedroom windows.

Though car windows.

Through Le Gran Paris windows.

Always an observer and an outsider. Never part of the action. Never part of life. It didn’t use to bother him as much but nowadays he often wondered if he was condemned to just watch while merely existing instead of living.

Up until a couple months ago, he might’ve found it easier to believe that it was for his own protection. Now, though, as he watched the distance between Collège Françoise Dupont and the town car increase, he wondered what good came of all that isolation.

It certainly did nothing to protect his mère.

All it did was to make him feel trapped. When he was younger, he could never understand the real meaning of the expression “gilded cage” as he read it in the storybooks. Now that he was older, it was finally starting to sink in.

To make it all worse, his père refused to even listen to him. And it’s not like Adrien couldn’t understand where his father’s fears were coming from, because he could – _he did!_ The loss of his mother was still a fresh wound and he suspected it would always be hanging over their heads. It still didn’t make things any fairer. If it was overdramatic to feel like he was being punished for something he didn’t do, then so be it. He couldn’t help the way he felt.

He was about to just give up on his idea of going to school and making new friends when he noticed the little black box over his coffee table. And then...

Well, it was as if someone had forgotten to lock the windows for once and he could, at last, join the rest of the world.


	2. Hide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was something I wrote while thinking about maybe take part on Adrinette April last year. Didn't really went through with it.  
> So, yeah, this was Day 1: Hide

 

Marinette had become quite proficient at turning invisible when it was convenient. It made disappearing during Akuma attacks easier and it was also helpful for those moments – like right now – when she still felt jittery over talking to Adrien.

Lately, though, she felt like her capacity of getting by unnoticed was failing her and she had no idea what she was doing wrong.

No matter how much she tried to remain invisible, Adrien seemed to be somewhat hardwired to detect her. Sometimes she was just quietly watching him interact with their friends from behind, hidden in a corner, and he would turn in her direction as if feeling her eyes on him. Then they would stare into each other’s eyes for a while until he smiled at her or - _oh, God!_ \- he came closer to talk to her, no consideration whatsoever about her flustered state.

It was terrifying and concerning and exciting and exhilarating.

Marinette didn’t know what to do but she was starting to think that, for some reason or another, he’d become able to see her and she no longer could hide from Adrien Agreste.


	3. Gaming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was the second (and unfortunately last) thing I wrote for Adrinette April last year.  
> Day 2: Gaming

 

It had been a stupid idea.

Who was the genius that thought that turning their visit to the arcade in a competition would be a good idea? Oh, that’s right… She did. Stupid, _stupid_ idea! Marinette heaved a sigh, as she watched the line composed of boys and girls from her class and some people she didn’t even know waiting their turn to try and defeat her.

_Jeez, Marinette, tone it down, will you?_

Except she couldn’t really tone it down. She was competitive by nature and she didn’t believe in losing on purpose. So she just kept on playing and kept on winning. Her hair was a mess, she was dripping sweat from the stifling hot interior of the arcade. She was aware that there was a betting pool going on. She was also aware that Adrien was around – she had heard him talking to Nino and Alya a little while ago. And all the noise around her was starting to give her a headache. But she was stuck there at that console till someone good enough to defeat her showed up. That was just her luck!

‘Hey, Mari!’ She jumped on her seat at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Adrien, smiling sweetly at her, in between challengers.

She felt her face heating up, thinking that she was probably looking like a mess right now.

‘Here, you should stay hydrated,’ he said, offering her a bottle of water and pressed a kerchief against her forehead to dry her sweat. ‘Alya and Nino said you’ve been there for almost three hours already! And it seems like if you win two more battles you’ll break the house’s Record,’ he smirked brightly at her. ‘Think you can do it?’

‘What do I get if I win?’ she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Adrien shrugged, tapping his finger on his chin, thoughtfully. ‘How about some ice cream?’

Marinette opened a broad cocky grin, one that would probably make Chat Noir proud, she thought to herself.  ‘Oh, you’re on!’


	4. You're my number three

 

As a child, Marinette’s life revolved around the number 3. Her family was composed of three people. There were three predominant heritages in her blood. She had been gifted her favourite toy ever at her third birthday.

She was 13 when she had become a superhero and when she first fell in love – and, well, there’s a number three in there, as well. She had dreamed of having three children. She also thought about having a dog, then a cat, before settling on her third option of getting a hamster.

She made three best friends at school and had three best friends as superheroes, as well – ah, okay, maybe she shouldn’t really count them since two of them were the same friends from school but they didn’t know that! So, maybe it still counted, right? Right!

And then, she’s met her third enemy – Hawkmoth, Mayura and Lila were the ultimate trifecta of evil.

It only got worse when she found herself crushing on three boys – why? Oh, why?

That was not to say there was something wrong with either of the boys.

Adrien was the very definition of _Perfection_. He was a real gentleman, very sweet, very kind. He was a ray of sunshine on the bleakest of days. If only she was able to be more confident around him...

Luka was very sweet and mature and creative and artistic – though she didn’t know him very well, he made her heart jump in her chest as if trying to get out.

And Chat... well, Chat Noir was her goofball of a partner, her kitty, her bestest friend – sorry, Alya! – her pillar of strength, her source of confidence. He brought what was best in her to the forefront and was the major reason why she was able to be a good Ladybug.

She had fought so hard against falling in love with Chat Noir. And yet he had overpowered her resolve, worming his way into her heart in a way that couldn’t be undone…

And for a while… Well, for a while, Marinette had really dreaded the Number 3.

Yet as that truth sank in, she realised that, maybe, she wasn’t really in love with three guys, after all. As much as she admired Adrien and Luka, there was only The One. Chat had been the first one she’d met. It had only taken her longer to let him in, for some reason.

~

When all was said and done, Marinette thought that, maybe, numbers were just numbers, after all, and held no real meaning on the great scheme of things and yet…

Yet, as she stood in front of Chat Noir, their masks falling and two became one, she couldn’t help thinking that her problems might be nothing more than mathematical errors.


	5. A Matter of Trust

**** ‘Ladybug!’ Alya called out, feeling slightly out of breath and knowing that they’d have little time to talk before the superheroine needed to go. It was imperative that they had that conversation, though. Especially because there was no one else around them at the moment. 

The last few Akuma attacks were taking their toll on Paris’s super-duo – some of the hardest fights they’ve ever had, really, barring Heroes Day – and Alya kept expecting to be called to arms so that she could help but it didn’t happen. She actually had been surprised when Queen Bee was summoned to help the other day when it looked like they were being overwhelmed. ‘Ladybug, wait!’

‘Another time, Miss Césaire,’ Ladybug said, turning around and preparing to leave.

That was another thing. Ladybug usually was very attentive to her, often favouring her over other press members. And yet right now, Alya couldn’t help but feel the glacier from the heroine’s cold shoulder. It was not that Ladybug was outwardly rude or anything – she was just a little shorter with the reporter lately.

‘Wait, Ladybug! Why haven’t you been asking for my help during the last fights? I know you’ve seen me around the attack sites...’ Alya pressed, talking to the red and black spotted back of her hero.

Ladybug’s shoulders seemed to slouch just a bit before she took a deep breath and turned to face Alya, a serious look on her face and narrowed eyes. ‘I haven’t been calling upon you, Miss Césaire, because I don’t know if I can trust you anymore.’

Alya’s eyes widened comically as she heard the blunt answer. ‘W-what do you mean by…’

‘The Fox holder is supposed to be able to see through lies and illusions as well as casting them,’ Ladybug said, her tone non-nonsense as she stared Alya straight in the eyes. ‘You have fallen short on that lately. When I chose you to become Rena Rouge, I thought you were committed to figuring out the truth – even if you always had many  _ theories _ on your blog, you’ve always made a point of tagging them accordingly – except I’ve been very unhappy with some articles on the Ladyblog as of late that spout lies as if they were the most absolute truth. It turned your blog into a gossip platform and made me question the veracity of everything you’ve ever written. I started wondering if you ever bothered to check your sources before publishing anything because you sure as hell haven’t bothered to check with me before making a series of articles with my so-called  _ best friend _ . Someone I haven’t interacted with out of her many akumatizations…’ Ladybug’s voice had become harsher and she had a frown on her face as she talked but she took a deep breath and relaxed her stance and expression. ‘So... that’s why I haven’t been calling you to help. Now if that was all, I need to bug out!’

As the Bug left, yo-yo-ing away, Alya felt a deep cold take over her body as dread the likes she never experienced before settled in her mind. She had a lot to think about and at the top of her mind was the question of  _ “Just what had she done?’". _

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please comment if you enjoyed it!


End file.
